Thinglink has an amazingly diverse user base of design experts: collectors, entrepreneurs, consultants, marketing specialists, web designers, curators, researchers… the list goes on. What they all share is that they – we – are excited by the idea of communities around design.

So we decided we should pay more attention to enabling communities to happen on Thinglink.

The first thing we want to do is to simply give more visibility to people who are knowledgeable in a specific area. For example, our users include experts in new Chinese architecture, Scandinavian modernism, vintage audiogear, bikes, graffiti art, Russian lighting design, American contemporary artists, Africa, Japan… the list goes on. Other Thinglink users should be able to find these experts and start following their updates.

So we’ll start gathering a group of Thinglink users who are interested in introducing new things and gardening discussion in their own area of expertise. Are you interested in becoming a featured expert? Here are three things we ask for:

– You have a good knowledge base in your area of expertise that you have acquired through your profession, collecting or blogging
– You are interested in conversing with people in your field and sharing posts weekly
– You are willing to contribute to improving the Thinglink catalog in your interest area

Bloggers, collectors, and curators: this is your chance to easily share and increase your expertise in the design community! Sign up or ask more, info (at) thinglink.com

The people demanded a way to add easily add products while browsing your favorite design/antique/architecture/collector/technology sites. And you know what the people are getting? Exactly that. We are proud to introduce v0.5 of the Thinglink Bookmarklet. Special shouts out to Thinglinkers Jonas Forth and Sacha Chua for urging us into action.

What can it do?
The Thinglink Bookmarklet allows you to add new products from any site that you regularly visit on the web. Here’s an example of how I used it earlier today:

Will it work flawlessly?
Not quite yet. But it will work decently, and it will work hard. And it will just keep getting better and better, automatically updating every time we enhance it. Plus, if you do your part and report feedback we’ll get to v1.0 in no time.
How do I install it?
Simple. You can go straight to http://thinglink.com/bookmarklet and follow the instructions. At the moment, we are supporting FF3+, Safari, Chrome, and IE8, so you’ve got some options. You’ll also see a promo on the right column of your home page the next time you log in, with a link to the install page.

We have some good news for all the new-comers and late-bloomers: we have extended the deadline of Design in the Wild Photo Contest 2009 until July 1st!

“Design in the Wild, eh? What’s in it for me?”

PRIZES! The Grand Prize is an original Eero Aarnio Pastil Chair (retail value $1500). And, each Sponsor can grant one honorary mention to any photo submitted to the contest within the limits of the rules, and reward the photographer with a surprise prize! FYI, those gracious sponsors are: Arabia, Eero Aarnio, Iittala, Martela, Tapiovaara Design, and Woodnotes.

“Okay okay. That’s a pretty serious bounty. What do I have to do?”

The Jury is looking for inspiring images of design in real life settings. The photos should illustrate design at home, in the office, in public, or in nature. They can include people although that is not required. We’ve attached some of examples of what’s been submitted so far. The picture may be taken by the contestant at any point in time anywhere in the world – or even the International Space Station. The jury will select the grand prize winner from among the ten most voted photos.

“Easy peasy – nobody stands a chance against my genius photography. How do I enter?”

Click this invitation link to create your Thinglink account, if you don’t already have one. Once you’ve logged in, click “Upload photos” and upload your favorite shots. When they are finished, you will be able to find a “Submit this photo” link on each photo’s detail page. Last, but not least, invite your friends to vote for your photo! I mean, that’s what friends are for, right?

Upload your most fabulous photos to Thinglink and submit them to the contest by June 1st. The judges are looking for fun, surprising & striking images of design objects in real life settings.

The grand prize of the contest is a true design classic: an authentic Pastil chair conceived in 1968 by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio. I ran into Eero at the fair today, and he told me he’s uploading selected photos from his archives dating back to the 60s to Thinglink — something to look for if you’re browsing the site.

We’ve been quietly working on an update to the Web site for a few months now. As part of this update, the address of the site has changed from thinglink.org to thinglink.com.

The upgrade that will launch in Milan adds a new dimension to Thinglink product codes. Thinglink.com is a global catalog for design that enables designers, brands, and design enthusiasts to connect and converse on the web.

Designers and brands who upload their catalogs to thinglink.com can build a community of fans around their products. Design enthusiasts who join the conversation on thinglink.com can post messages about their latest discoveries, ask and answer questions about new and vintage products, and share photos of their favorite design objects in real life settings.

The Thinglink catalog includes products from classic and contemporary designers and manufacturers. It contains many kinds of products, ranging from serially produced ones to limited edition items and unique one-of-a-kind objects.

Users can register the products they own and create unique identifiers for their privately owned items. Each product can become the center of a conversation and be photographed and discussed by its fans and owners.

If you’d like to participate in the beta and influence Thinglink’s future direction, please submit a request to join the beta. If you are a returning thinglink.org user, you can log in with your existing username and password.

“I personally think that craft product shots look more professional when all of the shots have something in common with each other e.g. same model/s wearing the products, same backgound/s same size shots, same shape shots, same style, same frames etc. etc. etc. Of course how you choose to present your shots is a personal thing and will also be very dependent on the flavour of the craft that you sell. I want my shop to be reasonably modern, simple to use, and clean to look at. To that end, my product shots are all the same size, and they all have a pure white coloured backgound. The benefit of having a plain coloured or white background for your shots is that the product is in full focus and there is nothing in the background to distract the onlooker. So I am going to show you how I take product shots with a pure white background…”

Sounds open up new ways of communicating around objects. They are often an experience greater than text; especially when it comes to using a mobile phone interface for navigating in exhibitions.

Sounds can transport the listener to a historical environment or an emotional state of mind. Sounds can be universal or particular, abstract or rational, and they can carry a message in the original voice of the undersigned.

Thinglink, the online design database, explores the marriage of sounds and objects by enabling Thinglink users to add sounds to things. To demonstrate the new feature we have animated seven products in the New Design category of the Designpartners07 exhibition and given them a chance to speak wise words in their creator’s voice. At Cable Factory the exhibits come to life with mobile technology!

The Thinglink sound demo at Designpartners is built in collaboration with Social Objects Ltd and the Touch project in Norway experimenting with touch-based interactions.

How can I add sounds to things on Thinglink.org?

1) Sign up at http://www.thinglink.org and get yourself a free Thinglink account.2) Add a thing (a design product, for example) to your personal portfolio. Say something about it (description), add an image and write a couple of keywords (tags) that best describle your work. Then add a sound file in mp3 file format (max 4 Mb in size). When you’re done, click submit.

3) Now your thing appears on your portfolio. Other people can now point to it, leave comments, and recommend your thing to a friend.